Michigan
St. John's
Wolverines Big Apple Bound to Face St. John's in Gavitt Games
11/11/2023 5:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan basketball team heads to the Big Apple to face St. John's in the Gavitt Tipoff Games on Monday (Nov. 13) at Madison Square Garden. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the broadcast is available on FS1 with Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery as the broadcast team.
Notes
• U-M vs. St. John's will be part of the 2023 Gavitt Tipoff Games, which features the Big Ten vs. the Big East in an eight-game series. Michigan is 2-2 overall in the Gavitt Tipoff Games with wins over Creighton (W, 79-71; Nov. 12, 2019) and at Villanova (W, 73-46; Nov. 14, 2018).
• The first three series Gavitt Games ended in a 4-4 tie, however, the Big Ten went on claimed the next two by a 5-3 mark (2018, '19). After the 2020 series was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the series split over the last two years with the Big Ten winning in 2021 (6-2) and last season (6-2). At 4-1, Indiana has the top record from the Big Ten, while St. John's leads the Big East with a 4-2 record.
• Olivier Nkamhoua has come out of gates red hot for the Wolverines and is averaging 21.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and shooting 78.3 percent (18-for-23) from the floor. A total of eight of his 18 field goals have been dunks. He opened the season with his eighth career 20-plus point game with a game-high 25 points, seven rebounds and three assists against UNC Asheville. He followed the opener by going a perfect 7-for-7 (1-for-1 3FG, 2-for-2 FT) against Youngstown State and posting his first double-double at U-M and the fifth of his career with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
• Will Tschetter scored a career-best 20 points against Youngstown State and was perfect from the floor, going 8-for-8 for the game and 4-for-4 from deep. He is a perfect 6-for-6 on long range attempts to start the season. Tschetter's 20 points was his first career double-figure game and first 20-plus point game. His prior career-best was the eight points he had in the season opener against UNC Asheville. Additionally, his six triples already surpasses his entire season total last year -- five (5-for-20, 25 percent).
• Michigan is 1-4 against St. John's all-time and last faced the Red Storm 23 years ago in the BB&T Classic (Dec. 3, 2000) at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Despite 18 points apiece from DC-native Bernard Robinson, Jr., and LaVell Blanchard (nine rebounds), the Wolverines fell 97-83. St. John's was paced by 27 points from Antony Glover and Omar Cook's 20.
• Michigan carries a 25-11 record at Madison Square Garden and has won its last 10 games there. The Wolverines' last meeting in the Big Apple was a B1G Super Saturday 69-63 win over Rutgers (Feb. 1, 2020). Prior to the basketball/wrestling battle, U-M won four games in four days for a second-straight year to capture its second-straight Big Ten Tournament title.
• U-M meets St. John's for the third time at MSG. The two other meetings were part of the Holiday Festival event. First on Jan. 2, 1965, No. 1-ranked U-M fell 75-74 to St. John's. Seven years later, St. John's defeated the Maize and Blue, 85-83 (Dec. 28, 1972)
• St. John's welcomed legendary coach Rick Pitino as head coach this offseason (834-293 overall record). Pitino heads to the Red Storm after three seasons as the head coach at Iona where he compiled a 64-22 record, two NCAA appearances, won back-to-back MAAC regular season titles and the 2023 MAAC tournament title.
• St. John's has added 12 newcomers: 10 transfers and two freshmen. Four transfers followed Pitino from Iona – Cruz Davis, Quinn Slazinski, Daniss Jenkins and Sadiku Ibine Ayo. The Red Storm has also brought in Ivy League Player of the Year Jordan Dingle (23.4 PPG, second-most in Division I) and consensus top-30 prospect Simeon Wilcher. The Red Storm's key returnee is center Joel Soriano, who averaged team-bests in points (15.2) and rebounds (11.9). He was named the Big East's Most Improved Player and to the All-Big East second team.
